Caveat, disclaimer, LISTEN TO THIS: I am NOT a lawyer! I am not
giving you legal advice; you can only get that from a qualified
contract attorney! The only thing I am doing is sharing the questions
I’ve learned to ask myself—and publishers—when I’m
negotiating the kinds of contracts that have let me stay in business.
If you want legal representation, hie thee hence to a legal
representative and hire him or her to represent you. I am NOT that
legal representative! If you’re good with that, read on. If not,
reread this paragraph until you are.

Now that that’s out of the way . . .

In the world of erotica writing, most of us work without agents
most (if not all) of the time. There are three main reasons for this: money, hassle, and
"reputation."

Pay for writing erotica tends to be lousy on a good day, especially
for short stories. Some current calls for stories are only offering
$50. I’m not saying that’s an unfair amount, by the way. That may
be all the publisher can pay and still make enough money to stay in
business. That does not, however, change the fact that $50 only
translates into half of an ink jet printer cartridge, a blip in the
summer’s AC bill (I live in Southern California), or a month’s
worth of anti-flea prescription for my furry office assistants.

An agent taking 10% of that fee wouldn’t recoup the cost of gas
for the agent to drive to the post office, much less the price of
shipping a hard copy of a manuscript. And now the writer only has $45
for the story. Even if the agent got 100%, that wouldn’t reimburse
his/her expenses for the project, much less cover the time spent to
adequately pitch the story or negotiate a contract. From a business
standpoint, having agent representation for erotic short stories is
usually a lose/lose situation for both the writer and the agent. The
only time I’ve heard of it working is when the agent and writer are
dealing with enough independent projects (like short story collections
or novels) to make the combined total worthwhile.

The same need to be cost effective applies to editors and
publishers. A contract that’s basically boilerplate for all
contributors to an anthology is easier to administer by orders of
magnitude than a conglomeration of contracts with varying details. An
editor keeping his or her head above water by doing a dozen books at
once simply doesn’t have time to negotiate a completely different
contract for each contributor. Same with a publisher. And when agents
are involved as well, then the editor and publisher are dealing with
twice as many people. This makes for even more work, as now
contractual and editorial discussions have to be kept separate.

In addition, agents (at least good agents) usually know more about
contracts than writers do. Agents are usually more aggressive—that’s
their job. They get more for their clients, which means the editors
and publishers get less. Unfortunately, to stay in business, some
erotica publishers need to have less writer-friendly and more
publisher-friendly contracts. Those editors and publishers need to
take advantage of writers in order to be able to put out books. I’m
not saying that’s right. I’m not saying I agree with it. I’m not
saying I sign on for contracts like that often. I’m just saying it’s
something we as erotica writers need to consider when we’re weighing
whether or not a specific contract offers a fair trade for a
particular piece of work.

It’s an agent’s job to get the writer-friendly contract—and
the best one possible for that particular writer. When agents are
involved in a project, sometimes the time spent dealing with differing
and less publisher-friendly contracts simply gets too high a hassle
factor for the editor or publisher. They’re not making enough from
the story to compensate for the time spent dealing with the
contractual issues surrounding it. Some publishers go so far as to say
they won’t consider manuscripts submitted by representation. Others
just drop the story and may or may not consider work by the writer in
the future. If they really want the work, they may even take the loss,
though I haven’t found that to be the case often. Barring a specific
reason for needing rather than wanting a piece, it’s just not good
business to operate at a loss very often.

Depending on the writer’s contract with the agent, if an editor
or publisher backs away before a contract is signed (for whatever
reason), either the writer or the agent or both then bear the cost of
having spent time and money on a project that brought nothing in.
Sometimes, the writer and agent also find fewer venues open to them.
Sometimes it’s worth it. Sometimes, it’s not. Again, it a personal
decision each writer—and agent and editor and publisher—has to
make.

Agents also have to keep in mind that in some way, shape, or form,
erotica, no matter how literary, is inherently about human sexuality
and sexual arousal. Representing writing about sex still has
"reputation" issues for agents. (Yes, writers have those
issues too, but I’m assuming that since we’re writing erotica we
intend to sell, we’ve already made the decision to do so despite the
obstacles we have to deal with.) It’s not unusual for even the
softest core sex-positive explicit writing to be condemned as
"porn" or "anti-family" or "anti-[insert
extremist religious or political group]" by those who want to
save the world from any but their version of Proper Sex. And that’s
for vanilla hetero sex! When we get into BDSM or GLBT or
other-than-missionary-for-reproduction married sex, the invective gets
even nastier.

Here in the United States, the Justice Department has set up a
special task force to actively pursue prosecution of adult content
that is by and for only consenting adults. We’re not talking about
any of the four big no-no’s here (underage, incest, bestiality, or
non-consensuality). They are specifically going after content that was
made in accordance with 2257 reporting standards and is being marketed
to and purchased by consenting adults.

Literary agents wading into this morass do so at their own risk.
Representing writers is a business. While a large advance and high
royalties might compensate an agent enough to make dealing with the
headaches worthwhile, the agent and his/her agency still have to deal
with the potential of being stigmatized and possibly ostracized on
future work. Rumors are easy to start, especially by those with
agendas, and can do a lot of damage even when based solely on
innuendo, misrepresentation, and flat out lies. Let’s face it, how
many times have we seen headlines accusing someone on the front page,
with the retraction coming quietly and buried on page 12, long after
the damage is done.

Other-than-erotica writers (with their other-than-erotica higher
income) who might be considering hiring an agent can be intimidated or
even just plain confused enough by the anti-sex fanatics to shy away,
just in case, from associating themselves with a "pornographer’s"
agent, regardless of their personal opinions about the merits of
erotica. So, no matter how much the agent believes in and may want to
represent the author of the sexually explicit writing, dealing with
those headaches for a $50 short story is simply not worth it from a
business point of view.

Sometimes, an agent who represents a writer working lucratively in
other genres will handle the writer’s erotica as well—usually as
a courtesy rather than a money-making venture. Similarly, if a writer
has built up sufficient quantity of marketable work and a solid enough
publishing track record, especially in the form of books, it can be
worth an agent’s while to take on the client.

These instances are few and far between, though. The bottom line
for most of us who write erotica is that we usually do our own
agenting work. We find our own markets, pitch our own stories, and
negotiate our own contracts. And when we do it as a business, we have
to do it well enough, often enough, to make enough of a profit to stay
in business.

See you next month for "Part 2: RTFM—Read The Flipping
Manual, or Words to That Effect."

About the Author: Kate
Dominic has been self-employed as a freelance erotica writer since
1996. Her critically acclaimed collection, Any 2 People, Kissing
(Down There Press, 2003), was a finalist for Foreword Magazine's 2003
Book of the Year Award in the category of Fiction Short Stories. Her
erotic short stories have appeared in many dozens of publications,
including The Many Joys of Sex Toys; Naughty Spanking
Stories from A-Z; The Big Book of Hot Women's Erotica; Lip
Service; Tough Girls; Early Embraces; Master/slave;
Leather, Lace and Lust; Hot & Bothered 4; and
several volumes of Best Lesbian Erotica and Best Women's
Erotica.

Kate and her husband make their home in Los Angeles with a
laid-back dog and several highly opinionated cats. She has been a
member of ERWA since 1998. She considers it a home away from home on
the Web.
Website: katedominic.comEmail: Kate Dominic